New shackles arrives today - any other way to lift the front? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

New shackles arrives today - any other way to lift the front?

kaczman

Well-Known Member
Joined
July 28, 2011
Messages
126
Reaction score
0
City, State
ohio
Year, Model & Trim Level
2002 Heavily Modified ST
Hello all,

At the advise of the forum, I ordered and received the Warrior 153 shackles today. After doing a little bit more research, I do not want to do the torsion twist after reading about the harsh ride and extra stress on the front suspension.

Is there any way to lift the front 2-3" without doing a TT? Or should I just send these shackles back, and get a body lift? My friend suggest torsion keys (which I think would be the same idea as a TT, ) or a "lifting block?" Couldnt find anything about that.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





if you plan on doing any wheeling and the lift isnt just for looks, ur best bet is the TT. body lift is another route, but it is very involved. either have a bunch of friends, tools, and time or be willing to pay some bread for it.
 






I dont plan on doing any wheeling, and the lift is just for looks, and some additional ground clearance.
 






There isn't anyway of lifting the frontend without putting "any" stress on the frontend parts. It's totally up to you whether you wanna lift the frontend be it TT, lift spindles (if 2wd), lift torsion keys, Superlift.
 






Nothing you can do to these suspensions will get you more ground clearance besides adding bigger tires. That will always increase stress. Everything else just "allows" you to put on bigger tires.
 






Oh, and I don't think the ride is harsh with a TT. Feels more like a truck, maybe, but not harsh.
 






You don't necessarily have to send the shackles back in order to put a Body Lift on, unless you dont want your rear end sitting alot higher, and you want the money to go towards the BL.
 






Probably the most important question needing to be answered first is what size tires are you planning to run?
 






Just stock tires for now. Possibly bigger ones in the future, but the truck came with brand new factory tires.

I guess my question is: how much worse does the ride get with shackles and a TT?

And are torsion keys any better or worse than TT?
 






The ride doesn't get that much worse, it feels like the suspensions a little bit stiffer. I actually like it better, but you may not. Torsion keys are a waste of money, get the same results for free with a socket.
 






Thanks for your input. Can anyone else comment on the ridge change with shackles and TT?
 






Just take a wrench and socket and try it out... Keep track of the amount of revolutions to do and you can always put it back if you don't like it...
 






I did a TT on both a Ranger and a Sport Trac I used to own, I didn't think the ride was much different. On the Trac I thought a little more firmness was an improvement. It wasn't anywhere near objectionable.
 






With the Sport Trac you want the frontend to be more firm for better handling and ride. Also if you have the factory shocks, swaybar endlinks and Goodyear wrangler tires get rid of them. You won't believe the improvement of the ride and handling by replacing these parts.
 






Shackles aren't going to change the ride one bit. The TT will actually put the handling where I think it should have been from the factory, but it's not really much of a change. Torsion keys do the same thing for a lot more money. No need for them.
 






Thanks guys. I gonna do just a TT and shackles upon your recommendations, and let you know what I think. I'm sure it'll be in line with what I've read here for a simple small lift.

Rebel, I have better tires now. Any recommendations on swaybar end links? I had seen people say "moog" but I couldnt find anything else on them, or where to buy. Someone said Autozone, but searching their website comes up with no swaybar end links for my Trac. The shocks do feel fine, but I am not sure if they are factory or not.
 






Make sure to get an alignment after messing with your torsion bars.

Also, you can get the Moog endlinks from Amazon cheap. I posted a thread about it recently. Link included. Gotta get ready for class or I'd dig it up for ya.
 






i just did the same TT/shackle lift you are planning on, and the ride isnt much different in terms of "roughness". you will def feel the difference in terms of ride height but i actually like it because i can see more of the road. anything you do to your truck or car will effect the way the engineers or designers of the vehicle intended it to be, but its not always bad. i actually like the way my trac is riding because it feels more like a truck.
 









Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Not that much harsher in my opinion.
 






Back
Top